Review: The Appeal by Janice Hallett

Synopsis: The Fairway Players, a local theatre group, is in the midst of rehearsals when tragedy strikes the family of director Martin Hayward and his wife Helen, the play’s star. Their young granddaughter has been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, and with an experimental treatment costing a tremendous sum, their fellow castmates rally to raise the money to give her a chance at survival.

But not everybody is convinced of the experimental treatment’s efficacy—nor of the good intentions of those involved. As tension grows within the community, things come to a shocking head at the explosive dress rehearsal. The next day, a dead body is found, and soon, an arrest is made. In the run-up to the trial, two young lawyers sift through the material—emails, messages, letters—with a growing suspicion that a killer may be hiding in plain sight. The evidence is all there, between the lines, waiting to be uncovered.

Interesting take on an investigation into murder using an email / text based narrative to drive the storyline. Once you get into the rhythm, you find yourself drawn into the private conversations between the various cliques within and surround the acting troupe before various scenarios are worked through to discover the final truth.

Very solid debut novel.

Review: Anatomy of a Heretic by David Mark

Synopsis: Two assassins go head-to-head on the open seas in this gripping new historical adventure from Sunday Times bestselling author David Mark.

London, 1628: Nicolaes de Pelgrom, assassin and devoted servant of George Villiers, will do whatever his master asks of him – even if that means enduring the perilous voyage to the Indies to exact a grieving widow's revenge.

Making that same journey is Jeronimus Cornelisz, a conniving apothecary determined to escape the backstreets of Amsterdam and become rich beyond imagination. Hired by a criminal mastermind to escort precious cargo to the Indies, he will kill anyone who stands in his way.

When these assassins clash, so too do their missions. One cannot succeed without killing the other. In this deadly game, who will triumph and who will die? And are they even the only players?

"London," observes George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, is "... a great midden filled with the shit and piss of liars, cowards and self-serving malcontents..."

And it is into this squalor and filth that we find Nicolaes de Pelgrom, sitting in a cell in the notorious Marshalsea Prison, lamenting the loss of one Dr Lambe, whom he had been unable to protect from being torn to pieces by an angry and violent mob. Although most Marshalsea prisoners were debtors, the prison was second in importance only to the Tower of London; and from the 14th century onwards, it housed a variety of prisoners, including men accused of crimes at sea and political figures charged with sedition .

However Nicolaes is no ordinary prisoner - he is not only a ward and servant of the Duke of Buckingham, but also his spy and assassin; an orphan raised up from humble beginnings in Holland and educated by the Duke, who took him into his household. Service to the Duke comes at a price - Nicolaes must don the disguise of a Dutch sailor - Wiebbe Hayes - and find a place aboard the Batavia, a ship bound for the East Indies. There he will perform the role of assassin for a grieving widow - Mariam Towerson - by hunting down those responsible for the execution of her husband, Gabriel, a merchant of the English East India Company, at Amboyna (1623).

But it is not all smooth sailing, for there is one among the crew and passengers that will create an atmosphere of fear and mistrust. This is the apothecary, Jeronimus Cornelisz, who is described as pinched face, with fishscale skin; he is willowy, pale and malignant. A religious fanatic with a god-complex and member of a secret brotherhood, Cornelisz too must flee, and he seeks a place on the Batavia, ostensibly to guard a treasure, but with the idea of providing for himself a new life with new found riches. With an almost pathological need to be revered, Cornelisz uses his subtle influence on members of the crew to aid in the fulfillment of his plans. Cornelisz is not a random character plucked from their air - he is a real person, who life is explored and brought to life again throughout the pages of this book.

Other, real-life historical characters that have found their way into the narrative include Commander Francisco Pelsaert, a veteran of the Dutch East India Company and who left us with a journal of his days aboard "The Batavia".  Then there was the Skipper and Second-in-Command, Ariaen Jaconbz, whom it was speculated knew Pelsaert previously and that there was some animosity between the two men. Then there is our additional narrator, Lucretia Jansdochter, who was a passenger aboard the ship, and whose letters to her husband, provide additional context and supplement the alternating narrative of the main protagonists.

Author David Mark makes ample use of the "good versus evil" scenario between the main characters of Nicolaes and Jeronimus, which only serves to amplify the ever increasing tension that exists on the already claustrophobic environment that is "The Batavia". 

Sea travel during the 1600s was long and often unpleasant, conditions aboard were cramped and seasickness was rife. The journey itself, from the Netherlands to Java, was expected to take some one hundred and seventy days - nearly half a year!. Whatever fresh food stock on board was eaten first as this would turn rancid if left for long. A sailor of the early 17th century could expect cramped conditions, disease, poor food and pay, and bad weather. The ship's officers kept strict discipline on board, flogging was the most common form of punishment.  Sailors slept wherever they could find a vacant place on decks or cargo.  Cabins and bunks were provided for officers, but sailors often slept on the deck in the bow, or below in bad weather.  Passengers too had to ensure the same conditions as the crew, with the lucky few possibly have a cabin, oft times shared with others - the expectation of privacy was non-existent.

The cramped and miserable conditions, and rigorous and brutal punishments metered out to the crew were a breeding ground for discontent, which often led to outright mutiny. Many noted captains - from Bligh to Magellan to Hudson to Pigot - faced a mutinous crew on their voyages of either discovery or warfare.

And thus it was that on 4th of June, 1629, a flagship of the Dutch East India Company (VOC), the Batavia, was wrecked upon Morning Reef on its maiden voyage, near Beacon Island, a rocky outcrop in the northern part of the Houtman Abrolhos Islands, around 37 miles (60 kilometers) off the coast of Western Australian.

State Library of NSW
Ongeluckige voyagie, 1645, by Francisco Pelsaert

What followed was a gruesome story of mass murder, torture, and rape. In all, some 115 people died following the shipwreck, many of whom were murdered violently. Beacon Island now bears the nickname “Batavia’s Graveyard” or “Murder Island.”

For those interested in reading more about the history of "The Batavia", see below:

State Library of New South Wales - Murder & Mutiny

Western Australian Museum - Batavia's History

The History Collection - The Shipwreck of The Batavia

National Museum Australia - The Wreck of The Batavia

Australian Maritime Museum - Barbarism & Brutality

ABC News (Australia) - Batavia Shipwreck

National Geographic - Batavia Graveyard

The Monthly - Bring Up The Bodies

SBS (Australia) - Batavia Revealed: Shipwreck Psycho

Australian Government (Heritage) - Batavia Shipwreck Site

Further reading:

Batavia - Peter FitzSimons

The Wreck of The Batavia - Simon Leyes

Batavia's Graveyard - Mike Dash

The VERY raunchy history of sex in the Middle Ages is revealed in a new book

From The Daily Mail:

From monks thought to have died from a lack of sex, to priests conjuring demons to lure women into bed, a new book offers fascinating glimpses into the history of sex in the Middle Ages.

Katherine Harvey's illuminating novel The Fires of Lust: Sex in the Middle Ages offers a peak into the bedrooms of ordinary mediaeval men and women living in western Europe.

Harvey is a London-based historian and author specialising in the medieval period and Honorary Research Fellow specialising in history, classics and archaeology at Birkbeck, University of London.

The book explains how the majority of ideas and attitudes towards sex and relationships were rooted in two dominant belief systems: Roman Catholic Christianity and Galenic medicine.

From women trying to reduce their breasts to look more virginal to drinking wine mixed with powdered hare testicles in a bid to conceive a son, the book reveals many astonishing practices.

As well as some surprises, like an emphasis on female pleasure when it came to reproduction, there are shocking anecdotes of brutal punishments for behaviour deemed immoral during the period.

read more here @ Daily Mail.

The Bright Ages: A New History of Medieval Europe by Matthew Gabriele & David Perry

A lively and magisterial popular history that refutes common misperceptions of the European Middle Ages, showing the beauty and communion that flourished alongside the dark brutality—a brilliant reflection of humanity itself.

The word “medieval” conjures images of the “Dark Ages”—centuries of ignorance, superstition, stasis, savagery, and poor hygiene. But the myth of darkness obscures the truth; this was a remarkable period in human history. The Bright Ages recasts the European Middle Ages for what it was, capturing this 1,000-year era in all its complexity and fundamental humanity, bringing to light both its beauty and its horrors.

The Bright Ages takes us through ten centuries and crisscrosses Europe and the Mediterranean, Asia and Africa, revisiting familiar people and events with new light cast upon them. We look with fresh eyes on the Fall of Rome, Charlemagne, the Vikings, the Crusades, and the Black Death, but also to the multi-religious experience of Iberia, the rise of Byzantium, and the genius of Hildegard and the power of queens. We begin under a blanket of golden stars constructed by an empress with Germanic, Roman, Spanish, Byzantine, and Christian bloodlines and end nearly 1,000 years later with the poet Dante—inspired by that same twinkling celestial canopy—writing an epic saga of heaven and hell that endures as a masterpiece of literature today. 

The Bright Ages reminds us just how permeable our manmade borders have always been and of what possible worlds the past has always made available to us. The Middle Ages may have been a world “lit only by fire” but it was one whose torches illuminated the magnificent rose windows of cathedrals, even as they stoked the pyres of accused heretics.

see also: Slate - Why our fantasy of a dark and bloody Middle Ages is so hard to shake.

Big Trouble in the “93”: Olivier Norek’s Banlieue Trilogy

From CrimeReads:

Welcome to the Paris of Olivier Norek, former French cop for eighteen years who reached the rank of Capitaine in one of Paris’s toughest banlieues (technically ‘suburbs’, but invariably indicating tough housing projects on the outskirts of major French cities). Norek has now turned crime writer but he’s still inhabiting those dark streets and criminal worlds.

In Norek’s novels Seine-Saint-Denis police are an insignificant satellite operation looked down upon, if indeed ever noticed, by the mighty Brigade Criminelle bedded down in central Paris at the Quai des Orfèvres, HQ of the Direction Régionale de la Police Judiciaire de la Préfecture de Police de Paris (DRPJ Paris). Its legion of “grands fromages” make decisions from on-high that create tensions and anger in the tower blocks. Political and social engineering decisions that mean life, death, budget cuts, or hassle for those who actually have to police Seine-Saint-Denis. And so, say bonjour to SDPJ.93 Groupe Crime 1.

read more here @ CrimeReads

see also my review of Norek's The Lost & The Damned

Review: The Return of the Pharaoh by Nicholas Meyer

Synopsis: In Nicholas Meyer's The Return of the Pharaoh, Sherlock Holmes returns in an adventure that takes him to Egypt in search of a missing nobleman, a previously undiscovered pharaoh's tomb, and a conspiracy that threatens his very life.With his international bestseller, The Seven Per Cent Solution, Nicholas Meyer brought to light a previously unpublished case of Sherlock Holmes that reinvigorated the world's interest in the first consulting detective. Now, many years later, Meyer is given exclusive access to Dr. Watson's unpublished journal, wherein he details a previously unknown case.

In 1910, Dr. John Watson travels to Egypt with his wife Juliet. Her tuberculosis has returned and her doctor recommends a stay at a sanitarium in a dry climate. But while his wife undergoes treatment, Dr. Watson bumps into an old friend--Sherlock Holmes, in disguise and on a case. An English Duke with a penchant for egyptology has disappeared, leading to enquiries from his wife and the Home Office.

Holmes has discovered that the missing duke has indeed vanished from his lavish rooms in Cairo and that he was on the trail of a previous undiscovered and unopened tomb. And that he's only the latest Egyptologist to die or disappear under odd circumstances. With the help of Howard Carter, Holmes and Watson are on the trail of something much bigger, more important, and more sinister than an errant lord.

When Dr Watson travels to Egypt for the sake of his wife's health, he runs into his erstwhile partner in crime - Sherlock Holmes. Watson and Holmes had previously gone their separate ways but now their paths have crossed. Holmes lures Watson back to sleuthing when a missing English peer goes missing - and Watson, ever the man of action, launches himself into the investigation.

Egypt, at the turn of the century, was experiencing political turmoil: the Prime Minister Boutros Ghali had been assassinated in Feb 1910; the British had defeated the Egyptian army in 1882 and had taken control of the country (as well as the recently constructed Suez Canal); there was a nationalist uprising (1879 - 1882).

Evelyn Baring, 1st Earl of Cromer, arrived in Egypt in 1877 as the British Controller-General of Egypt, ostensibly to oversee the gaining of control of Egypt's finances, and eventual incorporation of Egypt into the British Empire. Baring believed that because of Egyptian administrative incompetence, a long occupation was essential to any sort of reform. Moreover, he established a new guiding principle for Egypt known as the Granville Doctrine (named for the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Lord Granville). The doctrine enabled Baring and other British officials to fill the government with those Egyptian politicians that would be cooperative with the British and the power to dismiss Egyptian ministers who refused to accept British directives. Under Baring, British officials were positioned in key ministries and a new system, known as the Veiled Protectorate, was introduced. Essentially, the government was a façade or a puppet of the British.

Added to this political drama was the recent burst of archaeological excavations in Egypt. Egyptology's modern history begins with the invasion of Egypt by Napoleon Bonaparte in the late 18th century and the discovery of the Rosetta Stone in 1799. English Egyptologist William Flinders Petrie (1853–1942) introduced archaeological techniques of field preservation, recording, and excavation to the field. Many highly educated amateurs also travelled to Egypt, including women, and they left accounts of their travels, which revealed learned familiarity with all of the latest European Egyptology. It would be the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun by Howard Carter that ignited public interest to fever pitch.

From the 1850s until the 1930s, Egypt's economy was heavily reliant on long-staple cotton, introduced in the mid-1820s and made possible by changes in irrigation practices. Large scale industrialisation had yet to occur, partly due to the tariff restrictions that Britain imposed on Egypt. The isolated industrial ventures initiated by members of Egypt's landed aristocracy, who otherwise channeled their investment into land acquisition and speculation, were nipped in the bud by foreign competition. The few surviving enterprises were owned by foreigners. These enterprises either enjoyed natural protection, as in the case of sugar and cotton processing, or benefited from the special skills that the foreign owners had acquired.

Thus was the state of Egypt at the time that this particular novel was set.  Meyer sets forth a rousing adventure that keeps readers entertained with more corpses littering the pages than the Valley of the Kings.

Review: The Return of Hester Lynton by Tony Evans

Synopsis: Victorian England's most celebrated lady detective returns in ten new brain-teasing mysteries.With scheming fraudsters, corrupt doctors, devious forgers and terrible murderers afoot, Hester Lynton, and her trustworthy assistant Ivy Jessop, have their work cut out for them. But amidst the dirt and deprivation of 1800s London, our investigative duo will stop at nothing to catch their criminals.

The Return of Hester Lynton is a collection of ten absorbing cosy detective stories, perfect for fans of Sherlock Holmes, Mrs Gladden and the Lady Hardcastle mysteries.

This is a lovely homage to Sherlock Holmes with female detective Heston Lynton and her female "Watson", Ivy Jessop. Follow Hester and Ivy as the tackle such cases as:

• The Case of the Fanshaw Inheritance (competition for an inheritance involving a treasure hunt)
• The Case of the Stolen Leonardo (a stolen master, a locked room, forgery)
• The Case of the Missing Professor (missing formula, traitors)
• The Mystery of the Locked Room (mysterious death, question of family inheritance)
• The Adventures of the Diamond Necklace (missing necklace, scandal, secret organisation)
• The Adventure of the Kidnapped Schoolboy (missing child that is not straight-forward)
• The Puzzle of the Whitby Housemaid (Bram Stoker brings a case involving a mysterious doctor and a scared maid)
• The Case of the Russian Icon (swindled museum, double-cross)
• The Case of the Naked Clergyman (eccentric clergyman and an inheritance at issue)
• The Problem of Oscar Wilde (Oscar seek Hestor's help in recovering stolen letters)

Hester shares many similarities with Holmes: she smokes; makes use of disguises; works with a police inspector; deals with confidential cases; has an erstwhile sidekick and biographer (and narrator); is attended to by a loyal housekeeper; and is a spinster to Holmes' bachelor.

The tales, whilst being conveyed to the reader at a later period, date between 1880s and 1890s in Victorian London. England was still under the reign of Queen Victoria (d.1901), the Boer War was in its infancy (1899–1902), and the scare of the Ripper murders was still fresh in peoples' minds (1888). You can refer to my review of MJ Trow's "Four Thousand Days" for further background on London at this point in time.

Hester actually put me in mid of the lesser know female detective - Maud West.  From Bella Ellis' article on Crimereads: 

"Maud was real-life private detective who was London’s and, I suspect, the UKs only female private detective at start of the twentieth century. Quite a celebrity in her day, with a career spanning more than thirty years, West claimed her work took her all over the globe, from London to Paris, to the U.S and back again. A renowned mistress of disguise she often impersonated men from all walks of life – from sailors to aristocrats." 

A lovely collection of mysteries to while away an afternoon.

Further reading:

- History Extra: Female Detectives

- FishWrap: 3 Amazing Detectives

Review: Four Thousand Days by MJ Trow

Synopsis: Introducing turn-of-the-century archaeologist-sleuth Margaret Murray in the first of a brilliant new historical mystery series.

October, 1900. University College, London. When the spreadeagled body of one of her students is discovered in her rented room shortly after attending one of her lectures, Dr Margaret Murray is disinclined to accept the official verdict of suicide and determines to find out how and why the girl really died.

As an archaeologist, Dr Murray is used to examining ancient remains, but she’s never before had to investigate the circumstances surrounding a newly-dead corpse. However, of one thing Margaret is certain: if you want to know how and why a person died, you need to understand how they lived. And it soon becomes clear that the dead girl had been keeping a number of secrets. As Margaret uncovers evidence that Helen Richardson had knowledge of a truly extraordinary archaeological find, the body of a second young woman is discovered on a windswept Kent beach – and the case takes a disturbing new twist . . .

Again, MJ Trow has taken on a real-life character and posited them front and centre as an amateur detective. He did this successfully with the poet and raconteur Christopher Marlowe and again with the poet Chaucer, so it will be very interesting to see how this series featuring archaeologist Margaret Murray develops.

As mentioned, Dr Margaret Murray really did exist and was associated with University College in London where she began her studies in Egyptology under the guidance of William Flinders Petrie in 1894 - she was 30 years old. She began her teaching career two years later, which is where we find her in 1900 when our story begins.

Margaret is approached to investigate when the body of one of her "students" is discovered. Prevailing police attitudes towards this young girl are draconian by our modern sensibilities, where women of an independent disposition are considered whores. Even the fact that there are female students attending the College are frowned upon by the ranks of male misogyny among both teaching staff and students.

One has to remember than England in 1900 was still under the reign of Queen Victoria (d.1901), the Boer War was still ongoing (1899–1902), and the scare of the Ripper murders was still fresh in peoples' minds (1888).

London itself was experiencing an exponential population growth which coincided with the geographical expanse of the city - between 1851 and 1896 the city had nearly quadrupled in square mileage and then some.

London at this pint in time was the global political, financial, and trading capital of the nation. While the city grew wealthy as Britain's holdings expanded, 19th century London was also a city of poverty, where millions lived in overcrowded and unsanitary slums, through which disease ran rampant, whilst the wealthy and middle classes favoured the outer suburbs.

Large immigrant populations from Ireland, Italy, Africa, China and India began establishing their own communities, as did a growing Jewish population.  The Port of London was one of the largest with the bulk of international trade passing through - shipbuilding was a prime industry at the time.

The City of London Police was the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement within the City of London, and was officially formed in 1832; its formation was ratified in 1839.

The Metropolitan Police Service was founded in 1829 by Robert Peel under the Metropolitan Police Act 1829 and on 29 September of that year, the first constables of the service appeared on the streets of London. Ten years later, Metropolitan Police Act 1839 consolidated policing within London by expanding the Metropolitan Police District and either abolishing or amalgamating the various other law enforcement entities within London into the Metropolitan Police such as the Thames River Police, which had been formed in 1800, and the end of the Bow Street Runners and Horse Patrol.

Trow weaves a tale that traverses the halls of education to the slums of London and back again. The narrative is engaging and easy to follow whilst the character of Murray herself put me in mind of another formidable late-to-career Margaret, the actress Margaret Rutherford.

I am very interested to see how Trow develops Margaret's future narrative and where we will see her next.

Further reading:

- Wikipedia - Margaret Murray

- fembio - Margaret Murray

- folklore magazine - Margaret Murray

Review: Kill The King by David Lawrence-Young

Synopsis: Being the ruler of England has always been fraught with danger. In Kill the King! you will see that many people wanted to assassinate you! At least two plots were aimed at Henry VII and George III, four against Elizabeth I, and more than three against James I. Queen Victoria survived eight plots while the present Queen Elizabeth II has survived three. William II was accidentally (?) killed hunting while two Anglo-Saxon kings were also murdered – one of them while he was in the loo!

Several of these stories such as the Gunpowder Plot are well-known, but how many people know about the Ridolphi or Babington plots? Would history have changed if Guy Fawkes had succeeded?

Historical mysteries conveyed by a story-telling grandpa to his bright-eyed grand-daughter. The period covered begins with the Anglo-Saxons and moves through to the reign of the current English monarch. 

The story-telling is rather simplistic in its presentation, and is interspersed with narrative similar to a theatrical performance. Not one of his better books. I would recommend for a much younger reading audience.

Review: On the Trail of Sherlock Holmes by Stephen Browning

Synopsis: You may have been introduced to the magic of the greatest of English detectives by reading the books by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle or perhaps watching some of the hundreds of films or TV shows that feature the extraordinary adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr John H. Watson - now, this unique book offers a detailed itinerary for actually ‘walking’ Sherlock Holmes. 

Beginning, of course, at Baker Street a series of walks takes in the well-known, as well as some of the more obscure, locations of London as travelled by Holmes and Watson and a gallery of unforgettable characters in the stories. Details of each location and the story in which it features are given along with other items of interest - associated literary and historical information, social history, and events in Conan Doyle’s life. A chapter then explores Holmes’ adventures in the rest of the UK. 55 black and white original photographs accompany the text.

This book is designed to appeal to anyone who wishes to gain a deeper understanding of the stories by travelling, even if just in imagination from an armchair, exactly the same London streets as Sherlock Holmes, and perhaps also by exploring some iconic Holmesian locations farther afield. ‘Come, Watson, come!’ Holmes says in The Adventure of the Abbey Grange. ‘The game is afoot. Not a word! Into your clothes and come!’

The synopsis says it all - it was a quick and easy read, and one definitely for the fans of the great detective, his surrounds, and his creator.

Review: The Coconut Killings by Patricia Moyes

Synopsis: A U.S. Senator is found brutally murdered with a machete on the grounds of an exclusive golf club on one of the British Seaward Islands. John and Margaret Colville, who operate a modest hotel on the island, ask their friends Chief Superintendent Henry Tibbett and his wife, Emmy to come to St. Mathews' to conduct an investigation. Although an amiable young islander who tends bar for the Colvilles has been arrested for the crime, Henry soon discovers that the murder rests on complex motives reaching far beyond the Caribbean.

I will preface this review with advice for anyone from the "woke brigade" to avoid due to the fact that I am sure they will be offended. This tome was published in 1979 so the views, ideas, perceptions and actions date from a time before this. The slightly pompous and rather dated colonial tropes ascribed to the British characters and projected by the British characters toward the native Caribbeans will not be to everyone's liking - and I myself found it rather grating at times and I absolutely love the older classic crime and mystery books.

I suggest that one dispense with both the implausible and the plausible, and just enjoy the story - afterall, you don't have to read it, and if you do, you can always pass it on.

Review: The Acupuncture Murders by Dwight Steward

Synopsis: Trehune, a gluttonous rare book dealer, attempts to overcome his deafness by acupuncture treatment. While witnessing a demonstration operation that ends up in a suspicious death, Sampson Trehune begins to snoop about for the murderer.

Whilst book browsing, I can across this little tome and the premise intrigued me - a totally deaf detective. This 1977 book was part of the Penguin Crime series, of which I had a number in my own personal collection, so thought it would make an interesting addition.

I struggled with this one - quite possibly due to the requirements of adding in sign-language and lip-reading into the vocalised narrative (for which I applaud the author) - however, it just added any extra layer to the chore of reading. Putting that aside, I really did not find myself invested in the storyline, or any of the characters, and forced myself to push through to the end. And to be honest, my mind wandered so much that I could not even tell you "whodunnit" as I cared not a jot.

Others may pick this up and enjoy it - for me, it goes into the donation bag for the little neighbourhood street library.

Alex Connor's Art Mystery Novels

Alex (Alexandra) Connor was born and educated in England. She has had a variety of careers including photographic model, personal assistant to a world famous heart surgeon, and working in a Bond Street art gallery.Having always had an intense interest in the history of art, Alex – who has previously written historical novels and non fiction – is now concentrating on writing conspiracy thrillers set in the art world.

The Rembrandt Secret (aka The Other Rembrandt)

History's biggest conspiracy is about to be revealed. But not if a brutal murderer has anything to do with it . . .

Marshall Ziegler's father runs a gallery in London, which Marshall has always ignored. But when his father is beaten to a pulp, disembowelled and left to die, Marshall suddenly needs to know every last detail of his life.

He discovers that his father knew a dark secret at the heart of Rembrandt's life, one that has the potential to bring down one of the worlds most lucrative industries. But a sadistic murderer is on the case, killing in increasingly brutal ways to keep it hidden.

Will Marshall beat the killer to the truth? Who can he trust? Will he stay alive long enough to reveal the greatest secret never told?

The Caravaggio Conspiracy

1608. Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, the greatest Italian painter of his day, is expelled from the Order of the Knights of Malta. Subject to a clandestine hearing, his crime remains a closely guarded secret.

2014. Two bodies are found in a London art gallery – stripped naked, necks bound with wire and legs obscenely contorted. They are twin brothers – successful art dealers – their brutal murder linked to the mysterious disappearance of two paintings by the master Caravaggio.

Investigators are confounded, and it falls to art expert Gil Eckhart to identify the killer before he slays again. But as the search for clues takes him from the glamorous skyline of New York to the fetid catacombs of Palermo, Eckhart finds that in the high-stakes world of art, good and evil are often tarred with the same, blood-soaked, brush.

The Bosch Deception

A Truth Concealed: Brabant, 1473. 

A clandestine brotherhood hides a secret that could bring down the Catholic Church. Their chosen hiding place - the art of Hieronymus Bosch.

A Terrible Conspiracy: London, 2014. 

An excommunicated priest approaches both the Church and the art world, claiming to possess an artefact that will destroy their reputations.

A Ticking Clock: This man, Nicholas Laverne, is poised to end over 500 years of silence and injustice. Yet, unknown to Nicholas, he has just summoned a killer intent on silencing him.

I read the above three books over the course of a couple of weeks, interspersed with my other reading - its is amazing how quickly you can get through a physical book compared to an e-book.

I started with Caravaggio then Bosch and finished with Rembrandt. Of the three, only the enigmatic Caravaggio held any real interest for me - I just happened upon the other two at the same time as I came across the Caravaggio tome - and thought, why not?  All three had been sitting on the shelves of my own personal library for a number of years before I finally picked them off the shelf.  I had in the meantime read Connor's The Wolves of Venice, which I really didn't like, and figured - as I was in the midst of a book culling - to finally read a number of tomes that had been gathering dust, especially those that appeared to be a part of a series - or in this instance, similarly themed.  

Despite the different cast of characters, artist and mystery, the narrative formula is essentially the same. Past events surrounding a famous artist insinuate themselves into the 20th / 21st Century, requiring the solving / revealing of the said mystery with ensuing high body count.

Whilst I did enjoy these three for what they were - an not too dull adventure in the art world with a healthy dose of conspiracy theory - they really are not something I would go back to read again.  And so these three tomes will be donated / consigned to the little neighbourhood street library with a number of others.

More historical art mysteries:

> Reader's Digest: 13 Strangest Unsolved Mysteries of the Art World

> Culture Trip: 11 Biggest Unsolved Art Mysteries of All Time

Review: All The Old Knives by Olen Seinhauer

Synopsis: Nine years ago, terrorists hijacked a plane in Vienna. Somehow, a rescue attempt staged from the inside went terribly wrong and everyone on board was killed.

Members of the CIA stationed in Vienna during that time were witness to this terrible tragedy, gathering intel from their sources during those tense hours, assimilating facts from the ground with a series of texts coming from one of their agents inside the plane. So when it all went wrong, the question had to be asked: Had their agent been compromised, and how?

Two of those agents, Henry Pelham and Celia Harrison, were lovers at the time, and in fact that was the last night they spent together. Until now. That night Celia decided she’d had enough; she left the agency, married and had children, and is living an ordinary life in the suburbs. Henry is still an analyst, and has traveled to California to see her one more time, to relive the past, maybe, or to put it behind him once and for all.

But neither of them can forget that long-ago question: Had their agent been compromised, and how? And each of them also wonders what role tonight’s dinner companion might have played in the way things unfolded.

All the Old Knives is Olen Steinhauer’s most intimate, most cerebral, and most shocking novel to date—from the New York Times bestselling author deemed by many to be John le Carré’s heir apparent.

I came to this through a back-handed compliment from another reader - and the premise intrigued me so much so that I read it in one sitting! And verdict - definitely one for my espionage shelf!

The narrative alternates between Henry and Celia as the meeting is arranged and finally takes place. There is the most important reflection on not only past events but also of their own relationship at the time. The narrative is punctuated with emails and other documents from the period adding context and background to the events that led to this meeting.

This is a wonderfully engrossing cat and mouse standoff between two people trained to lie and be deceptive - as Celia reflects, "...  we are both trained in manipulation ... we are both less than trustworthy ...".  Who is the protagonist and who is the antagonist remains in doubt right up to the very end.

The narrative is intense, well written, skillfully plotted and slightly ambiguous with nothing being given away - Steinhauer maintains his poke face throughout.  This is also a tale of love, revenge and betrayal - as all the pieces are placed on the chessboard, does the real narrative reveals itself, and we are forced to do a double-take and retreat back through the pages to see what we missed - and when.!

I can see why this was picked up to be made into a film - it will make for a rivetting drama, and the book itself is definitely up there with the great espionage tomes of past generations.

Review: No Light Without Shadow by Luke Gracias

Synopsis: On 06/06/06, the world’s population crossed 6.66 billion. Any further increase could only occur at the cost of other species and future generations.

This triggered the Devil’s Game. A Treasure Hunt for the twelve missing pages of the Devil’s Bible, which hold the Devil’s Prayer. A game designed for Jess Russo, the daughter of the Devil, to unleash Armageddon. Each page Jess finds encourages people to be selfish. To hoard for themselves and theirs, wiping out every chance future generations and all other species have of survival. Only her elder sister Siobhan can stop her, by finding the pages of the Devil’s Prayer hidden across the globe before Jess does.

When the bells of Amalfi Cathedral toll twelve repeatedly one night, Inspector Luca Reginalli races to find four ancient frescoes and a note in a jade sarcophagus. The cryptic note offering the Twelfth Page of the Devil’s Prayer in exchange for Siobhan goes viral. The treasure hunter Siobhan becomes the hunted.

From the Templars of Tomar to the Doomsday Chest in London, from the Tomb of Amir Temur to the Shadowless Pagoda of Wuhan, Siobhan and Reginalli follow the trail of carnage left by each page of the Devil’s Prayer.

Can they save the world from its own destruction?

Firstly please read The Devil's Prayer first and foremost as this is the sequel and makes numerous references to the first.

This is essentially the story of the survival - the survival of mankind, of the environment, of faith, of life on earth in all its form. And it preempted by a game - a battle of wits - between good and evil, light and dark, the emissaries of God and the Devil in the form of two sisters (Siobhan and Jess) and the respective mysterious religious factions that support them in their quest.

Codex Gigas

Their quest: find the twelve missing pages of the Devil's Bible - the Codex Gigas - that make up the Devils Prayer which will either save or destroy mankind, depending on who is holding the majority of the pages. The sisters' quest will take them from their hometown in Australia throughout Europe and Asia ... the path to the pages of the Devil's Prayer was littered by a trail of dead bodies ... such was the determination of each faction to take possession.

There is an abundance of research that went into the narrative, which I always appreciate when historical and religious overtones merge and meld with modern fiction. It will provoke thought and discussion and argument but ultimately the message is quite clear - the earth is the only thing we all have in common.

Review: The Heretic by Liam McIlvanney

Synopsis: From the award-winning author comes a much-anticipated sequel to the Scottish Crime Book of the Year The Quaker …

Glasgow 1975

A deadly fire

An arson attack on a Glasgow warehouse causes the deaths of a young mother and child. Police suspect it’s the latest act in a brutal gang warfare that’s tearing the city apart – one that DI Duncan McCormack has been tasked with stopping.

A brutal murder

Five years ago he was walking on water as the cop who tracked down a notorious serial killer. But he made powerful enemies and when a mutilated body is found in a Tradeston slum, McCormack is assigned a case that no one wants. The dead man is wearing a masonic ring, though, and Duncan realizes the victim is not the down-and-out his boss had first assumed.

A catastrophic explosion

As McCormack looks into both crimes, the investigations are disrupted by a shocking event. A bomb rips through a pub packed with people – and a cop is killed in the blast. The cases are stacking up and with one of his own unit now dead, McCormack is in the firing line.

But he’s starting to see a thread – one that connects all three attacks…

Following on from "The Quaker", "The Heretic" sees DI Duncan McCormack return from London back to the Serious Crime Squad based at Temple Police Station. He is not a welcome figure, despite having caught two serial killers, one of which was a serving police officer; his colleagues are quick to label his a "grass" and a "scab"; he is not a local so will always be considered an outsider.

However, McCormack's prime target is local crime boss Walter Maitland, who seems to be made from teflon, as nothing sticks This raises questions as to why Maitland is always one step ahead of the police - is the game rigged?. At the height of the "cleansing workers" strike, a vagrant is brutally murdered and left, with no identification, amongst the piles of garbage (trash), in the hopes of not being immediately found. McCormack is quickly taken off the Maitaland case and handed the less glamourous murder by his boss, DCI Haddow, who hates McCormack with a passion.

Crime has spread its tentacles, like a giant octopus, into all facets of local life, so that solving one unremarkable murder will take McCormack and his team full circle and back to their main quarry. Many seemingly unrelated threads are slowly woven together to form a cohesive, yet disturbing outcome.

McIlvanney's narrative is as gritty as the landscape itself: all the violence, social and religious prejudices and sectarianism of the time are to be found here. His characters display all the complexities and foibles of humanity: flawed, corrupt, ambitious, fragile, human.

Image by Nick Hedges

The 1970s and early 1980s were dark periods as steelworks, coal mines, engine factories and other heavy industries went out of business, leading to mass de-industrialisation. This led to mass unemployment and high levels of urban decay, with great swathes of derelict and contaminated land. The tenement housing on the peripheral had been built quickly, cheaply and with few amenities, and at length became run down and by the mid-70s were slums that could put Victorian England to shame. The streets were granite-setted, noisy, but solid; the population tightly packed in apartments that are mostly small, dark and dirty. Poor social housing, high levels of unemployment and poverty and the lack of social mobility scarred the landscape.

McCormack is heard to remark that "..... crime rises, like the bloody heat ..".  Strathclyde Police was the territorial police force which formed as a result of the amalgamation of eight regional police forces in 1975. Crime was mostly gang related and insular - as former head of Strathclyde's Serious Crime Squad, Joe Jackson relates:

"They only worked with the guys from their area and it was very hard to break into that. We could always get some people who would be grasses and we could work on that, plus there would be decent people in the areas who would help us build a picture of who was in the gangs and who was associated with them. But it was a tough game."

The Sex Discrimination Act of 1975 finally enabled women to be recruited on the same terms and conditions as men. Women were finally incorporated into the same line management structures, undertaking similar work to their male colleagues, for the first time. Up to this period, female officers could only join as part of a "completely separate" unit known as the Policewomen's Department which was seen as a "support" for male officers, remaining in the office, doing the admin work, and up to 1968, forced to retire when they were married. Nevertheless challenges remained in relation to cultural attitudes and equal representation - read more in this 2017 interview with retired Detective Chief Inspector Nanette Pollock in The Herald.

McIlvanney, as I have mentioned, has nailed the time period, and despite multiple references, I would definitely recommend reading "The Quaker" first. Looking forward to reading more.

Review: The Challenges of King by KM Ashman

Synopsis: The fight for England began long before 1066…

AD 1045. Godwin of Wessex, one of the most powerful earls in the country, prepares for the marriage of his daughter to King Edward of England. The mood is jubilant, his family’s relationship with the Crown secured through matrimony. But one man seeks to undermine him at every opportunity.

French-born Bishop of London, Robert of Jumièges, has the ear of the king. As a trusted adviser, his position is one of power and privilege, and he wields it to gain ever-greater influence over the English Crown for his kinsmen in Normandy, at Godwin’s expense.

As the bishop’s control increases, the king’s relationship with the House of Godwin frays until, eventually, it breaks down completely. With civil war looming, Godwin fights to pull England back from the brink. But with the king under Norman influence, it could be too little, too late.

The Challenges of a King is the first book in a thrilling new series from K. M. Ashman exploring the politics, promises and intrigue that led three men to contest the throne in 1066, and to the final successful invasion of England. Perfect for fans of Conn Iggulden and Bernard Cornwell.

"Challenges of a King", the first in a forthcoming series is set in England during the 1040s and 1050s when Edward the Confessor was King,  details the rise and fall of the family of Godwin, Earl of Wessex.

The House of Godwin came into prominence under King Canute, when they emerged from obscurity to remain in the limelight and as part of the political machinery of Anglo-Saxon England until the reign of Edward the Confessor. The two eldest sons of Godwin, Sweyn and Harold, were also elevated to earldoms.

The narrative alternates between Edward and the Godwins, and gives us a sense that Edward was in control of his own destiny and of the political machinations that would ultimately lead up to the events at Hastings as we know them. One cannot but side with the Godwins against Edward's Norman advisers, who were attempting to divert the succession away from the Anglo-Saxon dynasts.

Whilst the action is predominantly confined to the halls of power, we get a true sense of the impending drama that is about to unfold. Looking forward to the next in the series.

Apparently There Were Complaints by Sharon Gless

Emmy Award­–winning actress Sharon Gless tells all in this laugh-out-loud, juicy, and touching memoir about her five decades in Hollywood, where she took on some of the most groundbreaking roles of her time.

Anyone who has seen Sharon Gless act in Cagney and Lacey, Queer as Folk, Burn Notice, and countless other shows and movies, knows that she’s someone who gives every role her all. She holds nothing back in Apparently There Were Complaints, a hilarious, deeply personal memoir that spills all about Gless’s five decades in Hollywood.

A fifth-generation Californian, Sharon Gless knew from a young age that she wanted to be an actress. After some rocky teenage years that included Sharon’s parents’ divorce and some minor (and not-so-minor) rebellion, Gless landed a coveted spot as an exclusive contract player for Universal Studios. In 1982, she stepped into the role of New York Police Detective Christine Cagney for the series Cagney and Lacey, which eventually reached an audience of 30 million weekly viewers and garnered Gless with two Emmy Awards. The show made history as the first hour-long drama to feature two women in the leading roles.

Gless continued to make history long after Cagney and Lacey was over. In 2000, she took on the role of outrageous Debbie Novotny in Queer as Folk. Her portrayal of a devoted mother to a gay son and confidant to his gay friends touched countless hearts and changed the definition of family for millions of viewers.

Apparently There Were Complaints delves into Gless’s remarkable career and explores Gless’s complicated family, her struggles with alcoholism, and her fear of romantic commitment as well as her encounters with some of Hollywood’s biggest names. Brutally honest and incredibly relatable, Gless puts it all out on the page in the same way she has lived—never with moderation.

Check out the reviews on the official Simon & Schuster page

Index, A History Of The ... by Dennis Duncan

A story of ambition, obsession and alphabetical order .....

Most of us give little thought to the back of the book - it's just where you go to look things up. But here, hiding in plain sight, is an unlikely realm of ambition and obsession, sparring and politicking, pleasure and play. Here we might find Butchers, to be avoided, or Cows that sh-te Fire, or even catch Calvin in his chamberwithaNonne. This is the secret world of the index: an unsung but extraordinary everyday tool, with an illustrious but little-known past. Here, for the first time, its story is told.

Charting its curious path from the monasteries and universities of thirteenth-century Europe to Silicon Valley in the twenty-first, Dennis Duncan reveals how the index has saved heretics from the stake, kept politicians from high office and made us all into the readers we are today. We follow it through German print shops and Enlightenment coffee houses, novelists' living rooms and university laboratories, encountering emperors and popes, philosophers and prime ministers, poets, librarians and - of course - indexers along the way. Revealing its vast role in our evolving literary and intellectual culture, Duncan shows that, for all our anxieties about the Age of Search, we are all index-rakersat heart, and we have been for eight hundred years.